The Curse of the Blue
by Phoenix Oblivion
Summary: When every things seems peaceful, suddenly, a new threat emerges, a threat greater than Varjak has ever faced before. One that has stayed hidden in the shadows of the past. But another old enemy lies in wait for the ultimate revenge... I wrote this a coupe of years ago so it isn't very good, but please read anyway!
1. Chapter 1

Varjak Paw looked up. Despair in his eyes. A cat loomed above him. A cat off old. Rain poured down above. And the endless night never stopped in the wind and hail. The cat looked Varjak in the eye. Then hit him, once, twice, right between the eyes.

Varjak howled in pain. But the strange cat showed no emotion. And his ice blue eye gleamed evilly in the night. Varjak mustered out a sentence.

"Who are you?"

The strange cat combed his whiskers. And snarled in a low voice.

"Someone that your best friend mentioned long ago."

"Holly? What does she have to do with you?"

The cat laughed. Varjak shuddered.

"A lot. And if you want to know more. You could say that I was rather like you. You and me are quite alike."

"Than why are you trying to kill me?"

"Because you are what is getting in the way off my plan. My rather ingenious plan"

Varjak said nothing more. But observed the cat closer. He had brown fur and an ice blue eye. His other eye was green. He was thin. And his fur was spotless clean. He had a rather strange comfortable look, like Tam, but nothing off the sort, this cat was a monster, worse than any other he had ever known.

"How do you know the way?"

The cat grinned, but his ice blue stayed cold and hard.

"Like you, I was taught it, in my dreams. So did your enemy."

"Sally Bones?"

The cat nodded, then leaned in close to Varjak.

Then Varjak felt something, something that he hoped that he would never feel again. He felt like the cat was looked into his dreams, burning him apart layer by layer, seeing his secrets. Feeling his feelings. Almost being him.

"Stop. Don't do it. Not again."

"Varjak Paw." said the cat. "What would your nightmare's be? You have never had one. That Jalal has been teaching you the Way, but what if that stopped? What if your dreams were normal? What would you have?"

"I said stop."

"You are afraid."

"No."

"Oh but you are. And that," the cat said. "Will be your downfall. Goodbye, Varjak Paw. Sweet dreams."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Holly awoke in the normal time in the crack off dawn, in her normal secret alleys. With her best friends behind her. She cracked her toes and got up. Everything seemed normal. She looked around at her friends. As usual, she was the first up. All her friends were asleep. But something didn't feel right. Something was wrong. Terrible wrong. She shook her head. And went out. Her Spiky Black and White fur erupted into the open air. Her mustard eye blinked in the morning sun. Though her other eye didn't. It was perfectly normal for her. Ever since her best friend, Varjak Paw, had defeated the evil Sally Bones. And on that day her evil reign of darkness had come to an end. But still her eye stayed cold and hard. Nothing could get it to blink.

"Lovely day." She said in her gravelly voice. "Very nice." She hit herself on the head. She was talking to herself again. And once again, her first instinct was telling her that something was horribly, horribly wrong. She frowned. But what could be wrong. It was a perfectly normal day. Nothing was wrong, she was certain of it! Then suddenly she realized that she was back in the harbour yard! She had done the journey without thinking! All the free cats were feasting on their breakfast in the yard. Mrs Moggs wasn't there, she never was. She walked in to the yard. The free cats shouted out their usual greetings, especially Jess, a marmalade kitten. Who was, in many ways, the cause of half of the trouble with Sally Bones, though you could hardly blame her for everything!

She sat down and began to eat her breakfast off delicious fish and mice.

Two hours later, every one off her friends had woken up and were having their breakfast, everyone. Omar, Ozzie, the Orrible Twins, two enormous cats who were the strongest she had ever see. Tam, one off her first friends, was a chocolate brown cat with a comfortable look. Though her comfortable appearance, she was very fat.

The scratch sisters. Two lean, mean Siamese cats, they were the fastest claws she had ever seen. One was called Elyza, the other Malisha. There used to be three, but Pernisha, unfortunately, had been run over by a train, when Varjak was trying to kill the bones.

Razor, an old Bones lieutenant, was a tiger striped tomcat that had no ear's or tale, [it made him look pitifully naked!]

And finally Cludge, and enormous dog that had made friends with Varjak Paw when the vanishings were still at large. She shuddered at the thought, the Vanishings was a mysterious period were thousands of cats in the city had just Vanished off the streets. It turned out that they had all gone to where Varjak used to live! Where a mean Human had turned them all into toys. And armed with two black warrior cats.

Varjak had once again, played the part off the hero and killed the black cats, then rescued all the vanished cats. She purred. It had been quite a day.

Which also reminded her, of course, off her last and best friend. Varjak Paw. A silver- blue cat with amber eyes that sparkled like the sun. He was always around when any cat needed help; he was the best possible friend you could have. He was also a good fighter, having saved the whole city twice.

Speaking of Varjak, Holly suddenly wondered. Where was Varjak? She looked around the harbour yard; Varjak was nowhere to be seen. She looked a second time. No, he definitely wasn't here, she turned too her right, Tam was sitting next to her.

"Have you seen Varjak?" Holly whispered in her ear.

Tam jumped, then relaxed.

"Holly, don't scare me like that."

"I mean it! Have you seen Varjak?"

Tam looked around the yard. She looked amused.

"Nice try Holly. But I'm not falling for it."

Holly scowled, then said. "I mean it, it's not a joke!"

"No." Tam said.

"You sure?"

"Yes."

Holly was becoming increasingly worried now. "Well Tam, he's vanished into thin air."

Tam looked horrified. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I haven't seen him all morning."

It looked like Tam had been stunned with fear!

"Have you ever had the feeling today that something was wrong?"

"Yes." Tam replied. "Through the whole off the morning!"

Holly was trying to hide her fear and confusion. Where would Varjak go? He couldn't of left. Surely, Varjak was a good cat; he wouldn't just leave all his friends! Especially not her. One thing Varjak had always wanted was a friend, that was one thing that Holly knew about Varjak.

So where would he go? It didn't make any sense!

"Lets go look for him." Holly said.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

"It's no good." Tam moaned, "its completely useless."

"We still haven't searched everywhere yet."

"We searched all the places that he would go too! Like the secret alleys, and the Storm Drain, and even the hut where you and Varjak met! Face it Holly, he's gone."

"No he isn't!" Holly said, " He wouldn't just leave."

"Well obviously he has." Snapped Tam.

Holly and Tam were standing on the rooftop where Holly had fallen in the reign of Sally Bones, wind of the spring cut through the two cats fur, and it seemed impossible that the month could be spring if the disaster was at large.

"Tam, it still doesn't make sense, I know that Varjak didn't just leave on his own behalf, but if he did, he either was forced to leave, or he did it for our own safety."

Tam seemed to be considering the situation, then said, "Fine, I agree, as Varjak is a hero. But the cats back at the harbour would have surely noticed by now that we've gone, we should better be getting back."

"Right," Holly said, "I guess that we have got about half an hour until they realize. So lets get going and see if we can unravel this deadly mystery."

Tam snorted, "In half an hour? Don't be stupid Holly it takes weeks to solve a crime."

Holly rolled her eyes and padded over too the edge of the rooftop where the thin red electrical line had once stood.

"I meant," she said, "that we make a start."

"Oh."

There was an awkward silence.

Holly purred, breaking the silence, "Right," she said. "What places haven't we checked where Varjak would definitely go."

"There is one place." Tam said, suddenly concerned. "How could we have been so stupid? Obviously, Varjak would go to the Contessas House! Where Varjak was born!"

"Of course," Holly said. "What better place for Varjak to go?"

"The secret alleys." Muttered Tam.

"Ok, Tam, I think you should go and break the news to the free cats about Varjak's disappearance, I'll go and check out the Contessas house."

"Hold on." Tam said. "What about Sally Bones territory? Even though Luger and the lot won't be pleased to see us. They might, just maybe, be willing to help us! Varjak is gone, if they're an attack. Our city could, well, you know what I mean."

"Tam." Holly said. "I thought you were a right coward."

"I'm starving." Tam suddenly said. "Thanks for letting me go back to the harbour."

Holly laughed. And her and Tam went their separate mission's.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Varjak Paw crashed to the ground. And lay still, then coughed, spluttered and powered the ground. Then opened his eyes. He was staring into a strange dark alley. There was a small candle lighting the alley, but it was smothered by the darkness a few metres in. Varjak shook his head and slid out his claws. That had been one scary night, he thought, the rooftop, the fight, the strange ice blue eyed cat. He wondered if it had been a dream. But it had felt so real. But didn't all his dreams?

"Hello?" Varjak called into the darkness, he shook his flank, and looked at his fur. His silver blue Mesopotamian Blue fur was covered in grime and mud. He called again, still no answer.

This strange place seemed to be murdered of life. But maybe it wouldn't be if Varjak used his powers. For the Varjak Paw knew a secret martial arts for cats called the way. There were seven skills in the Way and his Mesapotamian ancestor, Jalal, had created all. When Varjak had been in the Contessas house long ago. He had thought it was just a myth, lost in time. But then everything had changed, in his dreams he had been taught the Way by his warrior ancestor Jalal. Varjak now knew all the skills. And he decided to use them now.

First Skill: Open Mind.

Varjak let his mind clear of thoughts, made himself calm and still, open to everything.

Second Skill: Awareness.

Varjak let his senses flow out into the alley. No change in the air currents would go unnoticed.

But he could sense nothing, even with his awareness; there was no living soul in this place.

Varjak was beginning to feel worried, what had the strange cat said?

_What would your nightmares be like if you had one, you have never had one, that Jalal has been teaching you the Way, but if that stopped, would you be afraid? Sweet dreams._

Varjak shuddered, that cat had been weird, but the strange thing was, that whenever Varjak had looked evil in the eye, he had been afraid, but the truth was that wasn't his real nightmare, his true nightmare would be to be left alone with no friends, which would be truly horrible, he hated the idea. All of his wonderful friends just gone. Terrifying, Varjak thought about what it would be like to lose his friends. He stopped thinking.

Another thing was that he knew the Way; he was a master at it. Possible better than Sally Bones! Or maybe even Jalal! Varjak thought suddenly thought that if he was going to get anywhere here, he was going to have to go forward and see what this place threw at him, but whatever it was going to be, Varjak somehow knew that it wasn't going to be good…

Varjak padded forward into the alley, and soon enough he had left the safety of the candle light, but at the end of the alley, Varjak thought he could see some light at the end of the tunnel. Varjak padded quickly forward through the darkness, cobwebs swarmed at him as he ran through, sticking in his face. But soon enough he reached the light. He stepped forth.

A blinding light filled his eyes, and smothered his senses, but soon it cleared away and Varjak could see. And what he saw was rather amazing.

He was looking into a place that he recognized completely, the secret Alleys! And it was virtually empty. But there were three cats in the alley. Two off them he recognized, the other looked strangely familiar. But he couldn't make him out. The first cat was a spiky black and white cat, Holly, his best friend. The second was a chocolate brown cat, Tam. The third was also chocolate brown, but his name he didn't know.

"Hello! Holly!" He called out at them, but they didn't hear him, he called again, still the same result. But then the air seemed to chill and he knew he was not alone.

Varjak spun around, then immediately wished he hadn't.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

In the whole of the universe, Holly never thought that she would be returning to this place.

Up in front of her, was a crumbling stonewall, and she knew that behind it was a place that she hated.

The Contessas house, where Varjak's family lived. It was here that all the vanishings had come when the Nightmare was around. She shuddered at the thought, she hated the idea off going back into this place, and it was old, stuffy, and spooky. She had no idea how Varjak could of standed it. The last time she had been here, at least she had had Varjak for company.

Varjak. The thought of him washed over her mind for a second. And at that moment, she just realized just how much she was missing him. His silver blue fur, his amber gaze, his friendship.

No.

There was no point thinking about him, she had a case to solve.

She shook her head and started to climb the wall…

Julius Paw sat by the fireplace in the living room of the Contessas House. The flames licked at his perfectly groomed silver blue fur, and his green eyes sparkled like the leaves of a fern falling in the winter. He flexed his muscles and turned around to look at his father padding into the room.

"There isn't much more food left." Father said grimly, but even though his voice was a little down, he carried the words with dignity. "Soon enough you know that we will have no choice but to go outside, and to find your brother."

Julius sighed, and stretched his enormous flank so that it smothered the light of the now dying fire.

He had never been the same since his younger brother; Varjak Paw had beaten him in a fight for the power over the family. Varjak had shown him that there was more to life than power, and that the Blues could live their life normally. He cracked a return at his father's words.

"You know that we will never be ready for that." Julius said. "He was stronger and braver than us all, even braver enough to go outside. We will never be able to do that."

"Varjak did it, and he wasn't stronger than us," a girls voice entered the gloom of the conversation. It sounded like milk in the morning. "He was just the same as any off us, but he was just more brave."

Julius smiled at the girl; her name was Jasmine. She always made the family feel better when they were down.

Noise of paws entered the room again and five more Mesapotamian Blues came into the living room. Mother, Auntie Juny, Jay, Jethro, and Jerome were their names.

"Whats the mood about?" Said Mother, "You all seem very upset."

"Yes."

Why?" Said Jay, Jethro, and Jerome.

"Because we are nearly out of food," Said Father.

"How disturbing." Said Auntie Juni in a very posh voice.

Will we have to do what Varjak said and go outside?" Said Jay eagerly!

"That is nothing good!" Snapped Jasmine. "We don't even no how to survive out there!"

"Agreed." Said Mother.

Suddenly, Julius's ears pricked up. He thought suddenly that they were being watched.

"There is somebody behind us." Whispered Julius. And he spun around. His claws arced out, ready to fight, and-

Wow!

In the frame of the doorway, stood a cat, a cat that Julius thought he had seen before. Strangely. She had spiky black- and white fur and one mustard eye. The other was ice blue. And for some strange reason he seemed to have a funny nervous feeling in his stomach.

Julius looked at his fellow family members; they all looked ready, ready to fight.

Then the cat spoke. "Wait," she said in a dark gravelly voice. "I didn't come here for a fight, a came here for information, about you son, Varjak Paw."

This calmed the family down a lot!

Julius looked at Jasmine, she seemed thoughtful, and as if she was trying to remember something she had tried to forget.

Then her eyes lit up. "Hold one," she said softly. "I know you, your Varjak's best friend! What's the name, um, Lily isn't it."

The strange cat scowled, and replied back, "The names Holly."

"Ahh yes, now I remember," said Father. There was suddenly a burst of surprising politeness on his face. "I called you ugly!"

Holly growled low at Father, and then snapped, "I didn't come here for idle chit- chat and meeting greet."

Father shrunk back, ashamed.

Julius decided it was his time too stand up and be brave.

"What exactly do you want about brother?"

"I'm the one asking questions." Holly said gruffly.

Julius didn't back off. He didn't think that this girl was scary; he actually considered this cat kind of cute! That's strange. Julius thought, when he had first met her, he had hardly looked twice at her scruffy appearance, but now he looked closer.

"Why don't we just get this conversation over with so that I can go home." Holly said.

"Well maybe if you're polite we will answer your questions," snapped Mother. Holly didn't budge.

Father signalled a sign at Holly indicating that they have a deciding vote; Holly scowled again but nodded.

Julius joined the immaculate circle of Blues.

Father spoke first. "What exactly do you think this cat called Holly wants to know?"

"Hmmm," Jethro said, "Maybe something important about Varjak that we should know!"

"He does have a point." Jasmine said fairly.

"I agree," Julius said. He was totally in favour of Holly. "This girl might know something concerning Varjak's safety, or worse, something that has already happened!"

"I'm also in favour of Julius." Said Mother, speaking up. "We don't know anything about the outside world. This cat obviously does. So it could be from Varjak getting to an argument, to Varjak being in grave danger!"

"Precisely," said Auntie Juni. "It's safe if we know about Varjak's safety."

"Then it's settled." Julius said triumphantly.

They all turned round to face Holly again.

"What do you want to know?" Julius said.

Holly seemed to sigh with relief, and then she said.

"Have you seen Varjak lately?"

"No," the Blues said.

"Then I'll be off." Holly said! And with out any further chat, she turned her heel on Julius and stalked out of the room, her tail held spiky and high, an unapproachable cat.

There was a small silence, and then Jerome said, "Well that was weird, it's like, she was here one moment, and not the next."

There was no reply, but Julius was thinking, thinking hard, there did seem to be something fishy going on, but he had no idea what. But then it came to him, what had Holly said? Have you see Varjak lately? And now his early warning signs were bleeping, Julius knew what those words meant; it meant Varjak was gone. Why else would Holly come here? Julius was pretty sure that Varjak was Holly's best friend. And really, it was rather hard to miss Varjak. He was so different to any cat he had met.

"Right," Julius declared, "I'm going to follow her!"

"What?" Mother shouted. "Are you crazy? A few minutes ago you were totally against that option!"

"I know," Julius replied quietly. "But obviously, Varjak's in trouble. I don't want to take the risk of letting Varjak die, so I'm going."

"Here's my plan." Julius continued swiftly, "If we get this sorted quickly enough, I reckon that Holly could of only made a distance of a mile or so from the house, so if it's a muddy day, then she will of left paw prints. That I can follow. And at a swift pace, I should be able to catch up with her, and find out what is going on."

Of course, this was only half the truth, what was true was that he didn't want Varjak to die, and that it was a muddy day. The lie was that she wont of made the difference of a mile, she would of already done about a mile. And besides, he wanted to get to know Holly better.

"Questions?"

Father raised a paw.

Julius nodded.

"Are you nuts!" Father screamed at the top of his voice. "You are not going to follow that girl, we hardly know who she is! You are not going to go into the outside world around you without us, and you are not going to get eaten by," he coughed a little before continuing his huff.

"And anyway Varjak is probably already dead!"

Jasmine gasped at what he said, Father ignored her.

"I think it's worth a shot." Said Jay meekly. Everyone turned to look at him, "Well, me and my brothers have always dreamed of going outside since Varjak did, no Blue except Jalal could ever live up to the expectations that Varjak set, and personally, I have always thought it as a challenge. And if Varjak could do it, then so can Julius."

"Yeah!" All the Blues seemed to flourish at Jay's words, and Jasmine cheered, Father glared.

"Fine." He grumbled. "But if something does happen to Julius. I'm holding Jay personally responsible…"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Holly padded grimly down the hill, she had been almost certain that Varjak would have been there, but she had been unsuccessful. She sighed; Varjak seemed to have vanished into thin air. And it was beginning to look like she was never going too see her best friend again. She stopped walking. And looked up at the air. The stars all looked so beautiful, each one totally unique, too unique. And for just a moment, she sore a harbour yard, with many happy cats sitting and feasting on delicious fish. But In the corner by the fire escapes, there sat two cats, asleep, but close and warm and snug. Starlight shining down upon them, like the glimmer of new hope. And there were tears rolling down her eyes now. Because she knew who those cats were, and the tears were not tears of joy, but of sadness. And she knew that somewhere, somewhere dark and evil, a silver blue cat with amber eyes would be sitting there, thinking exactly the same thing…


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Holly returned to the Harbour yard about thirty minutes later too cries of fear and confusion. "Where has Varjak gone?" Was the general idea, and every time it was shouted, Holly wanted to cut their throat.

Holly padded over too the edges of the fire escape and sat there, looking up at the stars. She could of sat there for days, but her silence was broken by a little pad of feet and the voice of a kitten. It was Jess. And she looked just as sad as Holly.

"You look like you've been crying." Jess said quietly. "Varjak."

Holly nodded; she wasn't in the mood for talk.

"Do you have any idea where he is?" Jess asked?

A shake of the head was the only reply.

"You like him, don't you." Jess seemed to blurt that sentence out, and immediately seemed to regret it!

This time Holly didn't answer, but rolled her eyes. Then she spoke.

"No, but he is my best friend."

Jess was the one who didn't answer this time.

Holly was about to speak when a voice came from behind. It was Tam.

"Any luck?" She said meekly.

"What do you think?" Snapped Holly.

"Well I did."

"You did!" Holly's eyes lit up.

"Well, it isn't exactly evidence. It's sort of, well, and old, friend."

And out from behind Tam came a very muscled cat, with a flat snub nose and emotionless eyes. He was short haired and bristling. And there was a threat of violence in his stride.

It was Luger. One cat that Holly didn't exactly want too meet again.

"Holly." He crackled. "I can hardly say an old friend. But hello."

Holly glared at Tam, what was she thinking? Luger was an old lieutenant of the Bones!

She shook her head but replied, "It's not good to see you."

Luger didn't show any sigh of offence. Then cracked back. "I can see why, but as a matter of fact, I have come to help you find Varjak."

"Why?"

"Because Varjak showed us that power isn't everything in the world. He beat the boss, fair and square. And this city wouldn't be much without him."

"OK," said Jess. "How can you help us?"

"Well, what do you want to know?"

"What you know about Varjak's disappearance?" Said Tam.

"Well, one thing I need to know when he disappeared first." He replied. "Because last night I did see something rather out of this world."

Holly's eyes widened. "Well he disappeared last night."

"Then this is what I saw." Luger took a deep breath. "All the Old Bones cats were sleeping, but I wasn't. The night is too precious. So I went for a walk, and what I saw was quite extraordinary. It started to rain, and I was just thinking about going back too the graveyard. When on one rooftop, I saw two cats, they were quite faraway, so I couldn't make them out, but they were fighting, fighting so fast I couldn't see them! But then they stopped, just like that. And then one of then just, just, disappeared. Literally, into thin air. One moment the cat was there, the next it was gone. And the other looked up, and just for a moment, I thought I saw the smallest chip of blue ice, melting in the moon… And then the other disappeared as well!"

Luger finished. Holly was just going over what Luger had said. Ok, she thought, there had been two cats, two cats on the top of a rooftop, they stopped, and one disappeared, then the other did. And that was it. How very strange. But it occurred to her that before they did anything more, they would have to go and see this rooftop. But there was one more thing, _a chip of blue ice. Melting in the moonlight._

"Oh, and one more thing," said Luger, looking at something behind Holly's shoulder. "There is a silver blue cat watching us."

The reaction was immediate. Luger suddenly jumped over Holly's back! And grabbed something in the shadows, at first Holly had no idea what was happening! But then Luger dragged out the thing. And Holly recognised him immediately.

It was Julius.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight.

"You followed me!" Holly shouted at Julius. She was in a mixture off anger and confusion. Why the hell had Julius followed her? There seemed to be no point!

"You heard her!" Luger growled.

Julius coughed and spluttered, and just about mustered. "Because I wanted too find out what happened to Varjak.

"Holly, I don't understand?" Spluttered Jess. "Who is this?"

"His name is Julius. He's Varjak's brother."

"Really!"

"Ok Julius." Luger snarled. "What do you know about Varjak's disappearance?"

"Luger leave it!" Holly exclaimed. "He doesn't know anything!"

Luger reluctantly let go off Julius's neck. Julius fell to the ground. But managed to muster a word at Holly. "Thanks."

Holly didn't answer. But said. "You should not of come here, it's dangerous for a cat with no experience."

"What about Varjak then?" Julius said. "He didn't know anything, but you were still his friend."

There was a pause.

"He does have a point," muttered Tam weakly.

Luger turned on Holly. "So what exactly do you intend to do with my evidence?" He said, ignoring the fact that Julius was there.

"Well first we will have too check out this rooftop, see if they left anything."

"Agreed." Said Tam.

"Hey, is that Varjak?" A voice came from behind. Holly turned around. It was Omar and Ozzie and Razor. Razor had spoken. "And what is Luger doing here?" Ozzie demanded.

"This is Julius." Said Tam, "And Luger is here to help us find Varjak."

"Yeah, and who is Julius." Said Omar. He pushed past Luger and plonked himself down next to Tam.

"Varjak's brother." Jess informed them. "He followed Holly here."

"Where exactly from?"

"Varjak's home high up on a hill."

"One other thing." Omar said. "How do you know that Luger is to be trusted?"

"He's already given us some starting clues." Said Holly gruffly. "And we are going to go and check it out tomorrow. We can't do it at night. It's too dangerous."

Omar seemed to be considering the situation, then said, "All right, but only because we can't live without Varjak."


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: Chapter Nine is finally here! I know it's been a long wait, but I was quite caught in my warriors stories, so... yeah. Anyway, it's been really nice to publish story, because it was actually the very first fanfiction I ever wrote. I wrote almost six years ago, and it's nice to remember this so the next chapters of this will get up quicker!**

* * *

Chapter Nine

Varjak was looking at the Gentleman's black cats! And even her they showed no expression. He shuddered, and he knew that something was wrong, not the Black Cats, something else. The black cats looked at each other, and here they came.

Varjak's first instinct would be to use the way, the fighting skills. Slow Time, Moving Circles. Shadow Walking.

But somehow Varjak knew that that wasn't what he was supposed to do. He looked at the Cats. Then he saw it; the Black cats wore no collar…

But that's impossible, Varjak thought, if they didn't have a collar, they would be dead. And then the next problem was that they were already dead!

But then he suddenly knew what this was about, the strange cat was obviously cheating him, in front of him was a vision set on his old friend, Holly, he needed to see that. It might help him find his way out.

So these cats must be some sort of vision trick. But they looked so real. But somehow they weren't. They were already dead! There was no way they could be alive!

He looked at the cats, then exclaimed.

"You are not real." The black cats stopped.

"You are a figure of my imagination." The cats drew back.

"YOU ARE NOT REAL!" Varjak shouted. And the cats vanished.

He drew a sigh of relief. This cat with the ice blue eye was obviously a much greater opponent than even the fearsome Sally Bones! He would have to watch his step.

He turned too the vision of Holly, and listened carefully to what they were saying.

"I'm starving." Said Tam, hungrily. "Are you sure that you don't have any food?"

"Certain." Said Holly. "The gangs are taking everything."

"Well actually," said the strange cat. "I was saving this for us."

The cat went over to one of the walls of the alley, and reached into a gap. And pulled out a mouse.

"Oh, you caught a mouse!" Said Holly, licking her chops.

"Oh yes." He said, cutting the mouse into three with his claws and flicking them to his colleagues.

"You have to be a fearless hunter to do it, fearless me the hunter. That's me."

Holly laughed, tucking in to her part of the mouse. "Where did you really find it?"

"On the west side."

"Sally Bones territory." Said Tam fearfully. "You stole it?"

The cat shrugged, and tucked in.

Then the vision, stopped, and everything went black.

Varjak sighed, that vision meant nothing to him, the only thing that he recognised, was Holly and Tam.

Varjak looked up, he wished that he had some sort of friend to be with, like Holly, he smiled, she was the best friend that someone could have, Her spiky black and white fur, and her mustard eye.

But he shook his head. He had to make some sort of sense out of that vision, but his mind was blank, what did it mean?


End file.
